IESE Prof. Spreads Ideas at TEDGlobal 2012

Prof. Pankaj Ghemawat took the stage at the TEDGlobal 2012 conference in Edinburgh on June 27 to discuss "globaloney" and his book World 3.0.

Ghemawat was among numerous speakers such as Michael Anti, blogger who is a key figure in China's new journalism world; Mina Bissell, cancer researcher; Amy Cuddy, social psychologist; and Parag Khanna, geopolitical expert.

The theme for TEDGlobal 2012 events is "Radical Openness." In his remarks, Prof. Ghemawat put forward the central argument of his book World 3.0 - that the world is really not as open and porous as it seems. He argued against the popular idea that the world is highly interconnected or "flat" - which he calls "globaloney" - by presenting specific data that suggest otherwise.

For example, only 2 percent of calling minutes around the world are international and only 3 percent of the world's population are first-generation immigrants. Perpetuating the idea that the world is more globally connected than it really is can have harmful effects, he said.

As noted by the event's blog, the IESE professor lauded "radical openness" - the event's theme. “But given how closed we are, even incremental openness could make things dramatically better," he said.